Biggest Summer Movies of 2012: What Was a Hit and What Flopped

A lot of movies came out in the Summer of 2012. Some were good and some were…not so good. But one thing’s for sure: they made a lot of money. We took a look back at some of the biggest movies of the Summer of 2012 to see what worked and what didn’t. Some films won’t surprise you – you mean ‘The Avengers‘ was a big hit?… – but others – people still go see those ‘Ice Age’ movies?! – will.

As we said, it should be no surprise that ‘The Avengers’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ were the two biggest movies of the summer. To date, ‘The Avengers’ has made over $615 million and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ over $410 million. But what else was a hit this summer? Here’s a look at the 10 Biggest Movies of the Summer of 2012 according to Box Office Mojo:

Looking at that list, what stands out are a lot of sequels. Seven of the 10 films are either sequels or reboots of existing franchises (eight, if you count ‘Snow White’). Credit to Universal Pictures and ‘Ted’ who had a Top 5 hit with ‘Ted’ – an original R-rated comedy. What’s also interesting is what almost made the list. Just getting beat out by ‘Prometheus’ for the #10 spot was…’Magic Mike.’ Turns out Channing Tatum in a G-string can bring in over $100 million.

So what didn’t work? Both ‘Dark Shadows‘ and ‘Rock of Ages‘ were big disappointments for Warner Bros. ‘Battleship‘ was a costly miss for Universal and Hasbro. ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter‘ never found an audience and ‘That’s My Boy‘ was an unusual dud for Adam Sandler. Despite an A-list comedy cast that included Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill, ‘The Watch‘ will be lucky to pass $40 million. And while Justin Bieber’s 3D concert movie may have made big bucks, the same plan didn’t quite work for Katy Perry whose ‘Part of Me 3D’ went in and out of theaters this 4th of July.